ReCommunity Acquires Hudson Baylor

A Hudson Baylor facility in Scottsdale, Ariz.ReCommunity Recycling, based in Charlotte, N.C., has acquired Hudson Baylor Corp., a material recovery facility (MRF) operator based in Newburgh, N.Y. The purchase includes Hudson Baylor’s 12 facilities in the Northeast and Southwest, two more facilities set to open, its glass bottle recycling facility and the company’s 300 employees.

According to a company statement, the purchase allows ReCommunity to expand its footprint to the Western U.S. with the addition of three MRFs in Arizona: Scottsdale, Phoenix and Tucson. Hudson Baylor’s glass bottle recycling facility also is expected to complement ReCommunity’s operations.

ReCommunity has been on an acquisition run over the past several months. In late 2011 the company acquired two single-stream MRFs from Great Lakes Recycling. (Click here to read the article.).

“We are grateful and pleased to welcome Hudson Baylor, a market leader that shares our community-centric vision for next generation resource recovery, to the ReCommunity family,” says Jim Bohlig, ReCommunity’s CEO. “Our great admiration for Hudson Baylor and the community partners it serves inspired us to bring our vision for creating value for communities to the broadest possible audience.”

Hudson Baylor facilities and operations will be folded in under the ReCommunity name, says Rob Doughty, a company spokesman. Major personnel changes were not immediately anticipated, Doughty said, as company executives begin meeting with Hudson Baylor executives in the coming months to determine long-term roles in relation to the company’s growth strategy.

The company was profiled in the March 2011 issue of Recycling Today magazine. (Click here to read the profile.).

“They are going to be welcoming them in road shows and town meetings over the next few weeks, and they have to take a look at the whole operation,” Doughty says. “They are going in with the view of not making any changes.”

Doughty adds that ReCommunity’s decision to purchase Hudson Baylor was based upon its added growth potential. “ReCommunity is looking to grow, and they saw that the cultures and the values of the two companies were very aligned,” says Doughty. “Both are privately held family companies, they are very active and community-centric, active in the community. I know that Jim and the executive team saw a lot of synergy.”

Hudson Baylor has been in the recycling business for 28 years. In September 2011, the company was selected for the second year in row as one of Inc. magazine’s fastest growing private companies.

“I believe the merged company will continue to provide the recycling industry with the best service for its clients through the strong commitment of its loyal employees,” says Scott Tenney, president and owner of Hudson Baylor.

Tenney says ReCommunity approached him about selling his company, and the idea made sense. “I’ve had the company for 28 years and we’ve grown it to the point where we were looking to continue to grow,” he says. “I just thought that combination of the two companies was a good way to go into the future, and it seemed like a good time for me to bow out, so that’s what I did.”

Tenney says he wasn’t looking for an exit strategy at the time, although that’s what transpired. “I was able to accomplish that end game, if you will, and it’s good to know that the folks from ReCommunity have a lot of the similar types of beliefs that Hudson Baylor had and continues to have.”

Meanwhile, Bohlig says his company’s mission was to continuously improve community sustainability through maximized resource recovery. “With this commitment, we strive to expand our community partners’ economic and environmental development while creating valuable jobs,” Bohlig says. “As part of our mission, we are heavily focused on innovation and technology intended to maximize the value of community resources for our partners and the families and businesses they represent.” – story updated 1/5/2012